


we ride together (or not at all)

by rangerhitomi



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Gen Work, Hurt/Comfort, Legion Mate, Legion Mate Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 00:31:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6262108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerhitomi/pseuds/rangerhitomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Miwa’s fight with the Knight who attacked him, he won’t talk about what happened… but that night he shows up at Kai’s place, and he doesn’t want to be alone. Kai is unable to mask his own insecurities and when he learns that Miwa has sustained deeper injuries than he is letting on, Kai resolves that he has to be the one to take on their foe alone, or risk Miwa – and his other friends – losing far worse than their memories of Aichi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we ride together (or not at all)

There are no longer physical burns on his body – no blisters, no redness, no peeling skin, not even singed hairs or clothing. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t _hurt_.

Not only his pride, not only his confidence, not only his formerly unwavering determination to save Aichi from wherever he was, to bring him back where he belongs – and oh yes, it hurts _there_ more than anything – but his physical body, from the still-burning skin to his throat, raw from the screams of pain no one could hear in that fiery hell, to the deep, aching exhaustion in every muscle, in every bone of his body.

He slumps against his front door, allows his depleted body to slide to the floor, and his head bangs against the door with a dull thud. He barely notices. What’s one more bump on the head when he’s going to wake up with a crippling headache anyway?

Besides, he deserves this. It’s his atonement for his sins, after all.

Time has probably passed since he arrived back home – he can’t bring himself to move from the front doorway to his bed – because the next thing he knows, there’s someone at the door and his eyes are snapping open.

He sits there, still, waiting. No one knows where he lives. _They_ certainly shouldn’t, though they probably do, since they know where to find him before, but just as he’s trying to sort out what to do, the knock is there again. It’s tentative, which is unusual, and has the dull sound of someone using the palm of their hand instead of the knuckles. So, using the door and the wall for support, he staggers to his feet and opens the door, sure at least that if the Quatre Knights wanted to ambush him in his own home they probably wouldn’t be knocking.

It’s Miwa.

The usual cheeky grin is gone, replaced by a forced smile that strains the muscles in Miwa’s face, and which don’t meet his eyes, which are looking everywhere but at the door. He’s holding himself all wrong, hunched over with his arms crossed under his coat instead of straight-backed with his hands in his pockets.

“Hey, Kai,” he says in a too-cheery voice, which has the barely perceptible quiver of someone who has either been crying or trying not to, and doesn’t want anyone to know.

Kai’s hand tightens on the doorknob as he stands back to let Miwa in.

Miwa is halfway into the apartment before he remembers to remove his shoes, and his apologies are accompanied by quiet laughs devoid of humor. He doesn’t take off his jacket, instead pulling it closer to his body, and he even pulls the blanket from Kai’s bed to wrap around himself as he sits on the floor in his usual spot.

“I’m starving,” he says, not looking anywhere near Kai, who is standing silently next to the kitchen. “Any more of that fried—“

“What happened?”

Miwa’s mouth twitches. Then he bites his lip and Kai knows there is something horribly wrong.

Kai wordlessly crosses the room and kneels next to Miwa. Up close, he can see the tiny scratches on Miwa’s face and neck, and there’s the slight sheen of some kind of greasy ointment slathered on the nicks. He holds out a hand and Miwa finally looks over at him, a grotesquely fake grin appearing on his face.

“You wanna hold hands or what?” It’s a bold attempt at humor. Any other time, Kai would have rolled his eyes and walked away but Miwa’s hurting and Kai’s not quite as heartless as everyone seems to think he is.

Miwa offers his hand, the grin slipping as he catches Kai’s gaze, and Kai takes it.

Like his face, Miwa’s hand and fingers are covered in tiny scratches. But this is worse, because Miwa’s hand is so cold that his fingertips are white and he winces as Kai rubs his thumb over them. An early stage of frostbite, Kai suspects, and Miwa is still recovering though it had been hours since his fight.

“The man I fought used fire,” Kai murmurs, and Miwa tries to pull his hand away. Kai doesn’t let go, but continues gently rubbing warmth back into Miwa’s fingertips. His own hands sting at the memory of Olivier Gaillard’s Judgement. “And Ishida was electrocuted.”

He can tell that Miwa understands his unspoken question by the way Miwa squeezes his eyes shut and draws his knees to his chest. Kai already knows what Miwa’s answer is, but he needs to hear it.

“Ice,” Miwa says hoarsely. “It— it hurt.  A lot.”

“I know.” Kai lets go of Miwa’s hand and walks the few steps to the kitchen.

“Ishida sent me a message.” Miwa pulls the blanket close again. “Said he’s scared, a little.” He frowns at the ceiling. “And has a massive headache,” he adds, almost as an afterthought.

Kai, rifling through a cabinet for a first aid kit, pauses. If Ishida admits to being scared, Kai can only imagine how Tokura and Katsuragi are faring.

And it is, after all, his fault.

He shakes his head and returns to Miwa, who is staring at the opposite wall. The kit isn’t sufficient for most injuries – it’s filled only halfway with bandages, gauze pads, pain relief ointment, and a pair of tweezers – but it’ll do for the task ahead. Miwa offers his hand again and Kai gets to work, slathering ointment on the cuts before wrapping them in bandages. It’s silent for a while, until Kai is finishing Miwa’s other hand and notices the sharp, burning itch on the back of his own hands for the first time.

The realization of the futility of their quest hits him at the same moment the burning flares across his entire body.

He doesn’t know how he ends up with Miwa kneeling next to him, arm draped stiffly around Kai’s shoulders, but he feels the holy flames licking at his body like hungry snakes as his vision is seared by a blinding blue flash. It’s all he can see, all he’ll be able to see for the rest of his life—

At least he knows he isn’t shedding tears. The flames burned them out.

“Hey, Kai. _Kai_.” Miwa’s voice is far away. “What’s going on?”

Kai’s fingers latch onto the first solid thing he can touch; a grunt of pain tells him that thing is Miwa’s arm.

Suddenly he can see again, and immediately wishes he couldn’t.

The red marks on Miwa’s face are more prominent against the paleness of his skin, but the worst of it is the pain in Miwa’s eyes.

 _I put that there,_ he realizes, because the only other time he can remember that look of betrayal in Miwa’s eyes was right before the fight where Kai Reversed him, the time Miwa implored Kai to reassure him that Kai wasn’t the one responsible for Link Joker.

But Kai couldn’t, because he _was_ , just as he is now responsible for Miwa’s pain, and Ishida’s, and it’s only a matter of time before Katsuragi and Tokura end up hurt too because of Kai’s choice to involve them in his search for Aichi. There is more at stake than their precious memories of their dearest friend. Whoever the Quatre Knights are, whoever they’re working for, they’re clearly prepared to do anything to stop Kai and his friends from finding Aichi.

The Knights might have been merciful this time in sparing their lives. Perhaps not again.

_I can’t let the others fight my battles for me._

Something cold grips his wrist and it takes him a second to realize that it’s Miwa’s bandaged hand.

“Kai.”

“You can stay here tonight,” Kai says, stumbling to his feet. Miwa’s hand falls away. “You can have my bed, I’ll sleep on—“

“If it were me and not Aichi,” Miwa interrupts quietly, and Kai clenches his teeth, “would you put yourself through all of this to save me? Would you even remember _me_?”

The silence stretches.

“Of course,” Kai replies in an equally quiet voice. “We’re mates, aren’t we?”

He turns away so Miwa can’t see that his words burn him deeper than Gaillard’s flames ever could.


End file.
